Poland successfully managed its integration into the European Union since joining in 2004, and during the 2008-09 global financial crises it was the only member to experience growth. Poland is a high-income country with a large and diversified domestic economy.
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In this paper the authors analyze the
evolution and the determinants of in-work poverty in Poland,
according to three poverty lines: relative, absolute, and
the 199... Show More +8-adjusted poverty line. The authors find that behind
moderately high in-work poverty incidence in Poland there is
very high in-work poverty in agriculture and modest in-work
poverty in all other sectors. Workers are much less likely
to be poor than jobless individuals, especially the
unemployed. In fact, the share of adults out of employment
is a much stronger predictor of households' risk of
poverty than the level of wages at which they work.
Moreover, the share of jobless adults or of agricultural
workers has become an increasing determinant of in-work
poverty over time. The risk of in-work poverty is also
inversely related to the educational attainment and the
stability of employment of an individual, which is
especially important considering that the incidence of
temporary contracts in Poland is the highest across both
European Union (EU) and Organization of Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) countries. Existing fiscal and
benefit policies have not been sufficient to address in-work
poverty and some of its underlying causes in the labor
market: the author presents four policy recommendations
aimed at tackling in-work and total poverty, and at
increasing labor market participation and employment. Show Less -

This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Poland.
To allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides
data fo... Show More +r other selected economies (comparator economies) for
each indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the 12th edition in a
series of annual reports measuring the regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for
2015 Poland ranks 32. A high ease of doing business ranking
means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the
starting and operation of a local firm. Doing Business
presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and
the protection of property rights that can be compared
across 189 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over
time. Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas
of the life of a business known as indicators. Ten of these
areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease
of doing business: starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting electricity, registering
property, getting credit, protecting minority investors,
paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor
market regulation, which is not included in this year's
ranking. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2014 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period from January to December 2013). Show Less -

Over the past twenty years, the Polish
health system has undergone several deep systemic changes.
Poland spends more of its healthcare budget on inpatient
hospital ... Show More +care than comparable countries, signaling an area
of inefficiency that requires reform ahead of demographic
trends. Ownership of public hospital facilities is
fragmented between different levels of government, leading
to multiple stakeholders and a lack of accountability.
Poland has made significant progress in rationalizing its
hospital system and reducing the number of beds, but the
reform agenda remains unfinished as evidenced by the
continuing debt issue. This note outlines a path to
improving the financial sustainability of the hospital
sector in Poland. The anatomy of the debt problem is
examined and major obstacles to financial health are
systematically reviewed. The root causes of barriers are
analyzed from a managerial as well as a health system
perspective, including the role of regulatory and financing
constraints. In making the case for change, the report also
discusses how secular trends, for instance in population
health and service delivery, need to be taken into account
as plans to reshape the hospital system are being
formulated. Preliminary recommendations are made
distinguishing: (i) system-level changes which will require
national-level policy interventions, and (ii) options for
Voivodships and facility managers to work better within the
existing system and enhance the chances of selecting no
regret move investments. Show Less -

The Country Opinion Survey for FY2013 in
Poland assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a
better understanding of how stakeholders in Poland perceive
the WBG.... Show More + It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from
national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral
agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil
society in Poland on 1) their views regarding the general
environment in Poland; 2) their overall attitudes toward the
WBG in Poland; 3) overall impressions of the WBGs
effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities,
and communication and information sharing in Poland; and 4)
their perceptions of the WBGs future role in Poland. Show Less -

This economy profile presents the Doing
Business indicators for Poland. In a series of annual
reports, Doing Business assesses regulations affecting
domestic firms ... Show More +in 189 economies and ranks the economies in
10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a
business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.
This year's report data cover regulations measured from
June 2012 through May 2013. The report is the 11th edition
of the Doing Business series. Show Less -

This report reviews and evaluates the
current state and future prospects of enterprise innovation
in Poland. The analysis captures existing developmental
dynamics a... Show More +nd projects long-term trends in innovation and
Research and Development (R&D) spending in Polish
enterprises. The ultimate goal of the report is to produce a
grid of policy recommendations that could serve as
guideposts for the Polish Government as it proceeds to
formulate its long term strategy for innovation and R&D
in the enterprise sector. The report reviews existing
approaches, methods and policy tools used by the Government,
and it evaluates an advanced draft of Poland's
Enterprise Development Program (PRP) for the upcoming
European Union (EU) financial perspective. The breakdown of
the six chapters of the report is as follows: chapter one
presents a brief overview of existing innovation- and
R&D-related efforts in Polish enterprises with a special
focus on the structure of expenditures and sources of
funding. Chapter two maps the institutional and financial
support system for innovation and R&D in Poland. Chapter
three evaluates the activities of the leading agencies
implementing innovation programs in Poland in greater
detail. Chapter four summarizes the lessons learned about
Poland's existing innovation system and provides
general pointers for the reform process. Chapter five offers
an ex-ante evaluation of the proposed PRP. It first spells
out the principles of international good practice. This
report is an in-depth study of ongoing innovation and
R&D activities in Poland from a regional perspective. Show Less -

The country profile for Poland is based
on data from the enterprise surveys conducted by the World
Bank in 2013. The enterprise surveys focus on the many
factors th... Show More +at shape the decisions of firms to invest. These
factors can be accommodating or constraining and play an
important role in whether a country will prosper or not. An
accommodating business environment is one that encourages
firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen
incentives for firms to innovate and to increase
productivity, key factors for sustainable development. A
more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment
and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in
health, education, and other services. In contrast, a poor
business environment increases the obstacles to conducting
business activities and decreases a country's prospects
for reaching its potential in terms of employment,
production, and welfare. Enterprise surveys are conducted by
the World Bank and its partners across all geographic
regions and cover small, medium, and large companies. The
surveys are applied to a representative sample of firms in
the non-agricultural economy. The sample is consistently
defined in all countries and includes the entire
manufacturing sector, the services sector, and the
transportation and construction sectors. Public utilities,
government services, health care, and financial services
sectors are not included in the sample. Enterprise surveys
collect a wide array of qualitative and quantitative
information through face-to-face interviews with firm
managers and owners regarding the business environment in
their countries and the productivity of their firms. The
topics covered in enterprise surveys include the obstacles
to doing business, infrastructure, finance, labor,
corruption and regulation, law and order, innovation and
technology, trade, and firm productivity. Show Less -

This tenth edition of Doing Business
sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local
entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business
when comply... Show More +ing with relevant regulations. It measures and
tracks changes in regulations affecting eleven areas in the
life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting electricity, registering
property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying
taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Business
presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and
the protection of property rights that can be compared
across 185 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over
time. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes
and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This
economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for
Poland. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data
for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each
indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2012 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period January - December 2011). Show Less -

The bank insolvency framework in Poland
should be modernized to ensure financial stability, maintain
the continuity of critical functions in the banking system,
and... Show More + protect depositors and creditors, while assigning losses
according to a pre-established creditor hierarchy. Several
country experiences in Europe and elsewhere have
demonstrated the effectiveness of new bank resolution
measures by the European commission. A key aspect of the
resolution process is for the authorities to swiftly assess
and revalue the balance sheet of the intervened bank. Other
particularities of modern resolution procedures relate to
maintaining the integrity of secured financial contracts to
prevent disruptions in financial market transactions
including in payments and settlements systems. The treatment
of systemically important institutions should rely on
extraordinary resolution tools which are necessary if a bank
is too large to be purchased or for its liabilities to be
readily assumed. The purpose of this paper is thus to
describe and recommend new features that can be added to
strengthen the Polish legislation for handling commercial
bank insolvencies. The paper focuses on the legal issues
related to insolvency of banks (including commercial banks
and cooperative banks). The banking sector's share in
the total assets of the credit sector amounts to 89 percent
while cooperative banks control 6 percent. The only
wholly-owned state bank is the development bank Bank
Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) which is subject to supervision
by the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (KNF). Show Less -

Doing business sheds light on how easy
or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and run
a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant
regu... Show More +lations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations
affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting
a business, dealing with construction permits, getting
electricity, registering property, getting credit,
protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders,
enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. In a series of
annual reports doing business presents quantitative
indicators on business regulations and the protection of
property rights that can be compared across 183 economies,
from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. This economy
profile presents the doing business indicators for Poland.
To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for other
selected economies (comparator economies) for each
indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2011 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period January-December 2010). Show Less -

Growth and competitiveness through
employment, skills, and innovation and technology absorption
are key issues to enable the European Union (EU) to meet the
targets... Show More + set out in the Europe 2020 strategy for smart,
sustainable, and inclusive growth. Poland has undertaken
important reforms in the first two areas, but it needs to go
further to sustain its impressive pre-crisis growth rates
and meet the new targets on which Poland still lags behind.
This report, 'Europe 2020 Poland,' aims to analyze
how Poland can reach the Europe 2020 targets and to provide
policy recommendations in the three specific areas. It also
aims to complement and help operationalize the 'Poland
2030 development challenges' report, which was
developed by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and
focuses on similar areas. The report concludes that raising
employment, improving skills, and enhancing technology
absorption and innovation could help offset a projected
decline in potential growth (largely due to a slower growth
in private investment), and put Poland back on track for
even higher growth rates and so as to help Poland meet the
Europe 2020 targets. Show Less -

Against the backdrop of agreement that
global coordinated action is needed to prevent dangerous
climate change, individual countries are thinking through
the implic... Show More +ations of climate action for their economies and
people. The rest of the report is organized along the
following lines. The next section provides background on
Poland's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Then section B
sets out Poland's existing carbon abatement targets and
key policy challenges related to GHG mitigation. The next
section summarizes the innovative methodological approach
used by the report. Section D discusses the methods and
implications of constructing business-as-usual or reference
scenarios. Section E provides the major findings from the
first model, the engineering approach, on the costs of
measures aimed at GHG mitigation for Poland. Section F
explains how these findings are expanded and revised by
incorporation into the first macroeconomic model. Section G
provides an analysis of the economic impact through 2020 of
mitigation measures within the constraints of European Union
(EU) policy arrangements. Section H examines the energy
sector and how Section E's findings are enhanced by
optimization of the structure of the energy sector. Section
I takes a first look at the challenges of energy efficiency.
Section J provides additional analysis of the transport
sector. The last section provides some notes on additional
issues and further work. Show Less -

As gains in basic health care increase
life expectancy, more people live past the age of 65, a time
when the risk of dementia and other degenerative diseases is
hig... Show More +her and people are more likely to require long-term care
(LTC) services. Whether at home or in an institution, such
care is an important way to protect the lives and dignity of
a country's elderly citizens. Unfortunately, the cost
of LTC, especially in institutions, can be catastrophic for
families. Without public social protection systems many
people cannot afford the care they need or the high cost of
care sends them and their families into poverty. Thus, LTC
is not only a health issue, but also a fiscal issue and as
the European population ages, it is crucial for states to
develop comprehensive LTC systems that address this
interrelated issue. The next section explores the
demographic background of the Bulgarian population, which is
one of the fastest aging in Europe. This is followed by s
short-description of the macro-economic and fiscal framework
in post-crisis Bulgaria. Next, an overview of LTC service
provisions is given, followed by a section on financing of
LTC services. The last section concludes by introducing some
guiding principles for future policy reforms. Show Less -

Good regulations are important for
growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. The Doing
Business Report measures regulations that encourage or
constrain business ... Show More +activity across 10 core areas or
indicators. In Doing Business 2010, Poland ranks 72nd out of
183 economies, the same ranking as the previous year.
Poland ranks behind many of its neighbors. This memorandum
provides reform recommendations for five areas in which
Poland shows low performance: starting a business, dealing
with construction permits, registering property, paying
taxes, and protecting investors. Table 2 provides a summary
of the reform recommendations, which are described in more
detail in pages 3 - 17 of the memo. All recommendations were
refined and adjusted, following the visit to the country in
June 2010 by the Doing Business Reform Advisory (DBRA) team.
These recommendations are based on comparative best
practices on investment climate regulations, which are
highlighted by the Doing Business report. Show Less -

This guidance note is primarily
addressed to local or regional public authorities
responsible for the management of brownfields in the
transition economies of Centr... Show More +al and Eastern Europe. The
potential audience may be much wider and include central
government agencies, regional development agencies, and
public-private entities in charge of urban development
projects, in this region and in other countries and cities
around the world. The main impetus for this work is to offer
perspectives and solutions to one of the many challenges
cities are facing, especially in post-socialist emerging
market environments, where urban brownfields are a major
hurdle to transforming local economies. Brownfields are
understood here as derelict or underused sites with real or
perceived contamination problems that create an obstacle to
their development potential. As such, these sites represent
both a problem and an opportunity. The threat they pose to
humans and the environment from poorly contained
contamination legacies requires prompt intervention. Thus,
the prime motive for dealing with brownfields often stems
from an environmental and social imperative. On the other
hand, redeveloped brownfields can become nuclei and engines
for economic development and an improved quality of life for
the cities and communities where they are located. Show Less -

The country profile for Poland is based
on data from the enterprise surveys conducted by the World
Bank in 2009. The enterprise surveys focus on the many
factors th... Show More +at shape the decisions of firms to invest. These
factors can be accommodating or constraining and play an
important role in whether a country will prosper or not. An
accommodating business environment is one that encourages
firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen
incentives for firms to innovate and to increase
productivity, key factors for sustainable development. A
more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment
and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in
health, education, and other services. In contrast, a poor
business environment increases the obstacles to conducting
business activities and decreases a country's prospects
for reaching its potential in terms of employment,
production, and welfare. Enterprise surveys are conducted by
the World Bank and its partners across all geographic
regions and cover small, medium, and large companies. The
surveys are applied to a representative sample of firms in
the non-agricultural economy. The sample is consistently
defined in all countries and includes the entire
manufacturing sector, the services sector, and the
transportation and construction sectors. Public utilities,
government services, health care, and financial services
sectors are not included in the sample. Enterprise surveys
collect a wide array of qualitative and quantitative
information through face-to-face interviews with firm
managers and owners regarding the business environment in
their countries and the productivity of their firms. The
topics covered in enterprise surveys include the obstacles
to doing business, infrastructure, finance, labor,
corruption and regulation, law and order, innovation and
technology, trade, and firm productivity. Show Less -

Doing Business 2010 is the seventh in a
series of annual reports investigating regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing
Busines... Show More +s presents quantitative indicators on business
regulations and the protection of property rights that can
be compared across 183 economies, from Afghanistan to
Zimbabwe, over time. This paper presents the summary Doing
Business indicators for Poland. The paper includes the
following headings: introduction and aggregate rankings,
starting a business, dealing with construction permits,
employing workers, registering property, getting credit,
protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders,
enforcing contracts, closing a business, and Doing Business
2010 reform. Show Less -

Following a large wave of post-accession
labor migration, in particular from Poland and the Baltic
countries to the European Union fifteen (EU15), labor
outflows se... Show More +em to be weakening recently. This weakening, and
in some cases reversal, reflects the increases in wages of
countries where the migrants originated, which is making the
incomes they earn in the EU15 less attractive. At the same
time, the main destination countries are undergoing an
economic slowdown, which is weakening demand for migrant
workers. These forces work together to help slow migration
and perhaps reverse flows in the near term, at least for
some categories of workers. But a return to the regular
labor market from a temporary, below-potential, lower-skill
job abroad may not necessarily be easy. It is unclear how
fit these migrants are to reintegrate into labor markets
back home. Some of these workers, moreover, have suggested
that they may go abroad again. We may be witnessing the
formation of a highly mobile segment of the labor market. Show Less -

Doing Business 2009 is the sixth in a
series of annual reports investigating regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing
Business ... Show More +presents quantitative indicators on business
regulations and the protection of property rights that can
be compared across 181 economies, from Afghanistan to
Zimbabwe, over time. This paper presents the summary Doing
Business indicators for Poland. The paper includes the
following headings: introduction, starting a business,
dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering
property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying
taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and
closing a business. Show Less -

This report presents the summary Doing
Business indicators for Poland along with the comparator
economies selected. The data used for this country profile
come from... Show More + the Doing Business database and are summarized in
graphs and tables. This report allows a comparison of the
economies not only with one another but also with the best
practice economy for each indicator. The best-practice
economies are identified by their position in each indicator
as well as their overall ranking and by their capacity to
provide good examples of business regulation to other
economies. These best-practice economies do not necessarily
rank number 1 in the topic or indicator, but they are in the
top 5. Doing Business 2008 is the fifth in a series of
annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance
business activity and those that constrain it. Doing
Business presents quantitative indicators on business
regulations and the protection of property rights that can
be compared across 178 economies and over time. Show Less -